Wednesday, January 18, 2017

Favourite Two-Piano Arrangements/Improvisations

(this post is inspired by the amazing concert of piano duos/trios/
 at the recent Malaysian Jazz Piano Festival 2017)

Favourite Two-Piano Arrangements/Improvisations

Here are some of my favourite two-piano pieces/arrangements/improvisations. 
Some of these have been featured in previous posts. 



Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas


(extract from cover of the Sam Smith single; amazon.com)

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas
Very popular Christmas song.
Memorable melody and catchy chord progression.
Written by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane in 1943.
Introduced by Judy Garland in the movie Meet Me in St Louis (1944).
Note the evolution of orchestration, reharmonization and arrangement style over the years.
Circle of fifths harmony provides many opportunities for reharmonization and lush orchestration.
Wikipedia entry here.


Sunday, October 23, 2016

Flight of the Bumble Bee

Flight of the Bumble Bee
(1899-1900)
by Russian composer Rimsky Korsakov
Originally an orchestral interlude for the opera The Tale of Tsar Saltan.
Now popular as a stand-alone virtuoso piece for piano.
Also transcribed for other instruments. 
Characterized by torrents of cascading chromatic semiquavers,
representative of a buzzing bumble bee.
See Wikipedia entry here for details and background.


Saturday, September 10, 2016

My Favourite Things

My Favourite Things
Classic song from the broadway musical (1959)
and movie (1965) The Sound of Music.
Composed by Rodgers and Hammerstein.
Popular for jazz improvisations
because of its circle-of-fifths structure.
Wiki link here.